EXCLUSIVE: Palm Springs State of the City preview
“Palm Springs is a city to be proud of, and I want people to be proud of their city, and proud of their government” Moon said. “In the past, things went on without transparency and we’re trying to change that. We have a task force of 53 residents to give ideas.”
One of his big goals, “Homelessness. There’s a task force on homeless that’s working hard to reduce by bringing together organizations that provide services, and finding people and getting them these services. At the same time we have people who don’t want these services and we can’t let that happen.”
“I want to focus on these smaller hotels and restaurants because that’s why people come here,” Moon added.
Bianca Rae asked him, “To what do you attribute the popularity of Palm Springs among 20 somethings and 30 somethings?”
“People used to come to Palm Springs to sit around the pool and play golf, now younger people come to go hiking and ride the bicycles,” he replied. “These things (bikes) are popular that’s why the city has spent millions of dollars on making bike paths and making them safe,” Moon said.”Palm springs is also becoming a dining destination for foodies, theres no fast food downtown, we have places like all these great new restaurants coming downtown.”
“We’ve actually reduced the square footage of this by half in response to a lot of concerns by residents of Palm Springs. We’ve widened streets, reduced height of the buildings. It’s a good compromise from where we began. You can see where the new Main Street will go, Kimpton Hotel on one side, Virgin on the other side.”
Right across from the future of the city sits its past.
“We just designated the Town and Country Center as Class 1 Historic,”Moon said.”This was the transition from 1948 to 1950, from Palm Springs moving from dusty desert town to hip and new town of 50s and 60s. This was the transition building that started the Modernism Movement. “
Bianca Rae asked, “When you look back, what legacy do you hope to leave behind as mayor of Palm Springs?”
“Palm Springs went through a difficult period we wont know what is going on with investigation, a shadow lingers. I want to have a legacy of leading us out of that shadow and into light and having a government people trust and are proud of.”
“I have to ask, because of my long relationship with her, will Marilyn ever come back?”Bianca Rae asked.
“I think we can be very confident Marilyn is coming back to Palm Springs,” Moon said.
“It’s where she belongs,” said Rae.
“It’s where she belongs,” agreed Moon.
